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Dr Keneiloe Molopyane is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for the Exploration of the Deep Human Journey and a National Geographic Society Emerging Explorer, 2021. Having begun as an underwater archaeologist, she ended up as an 'underground astronaut' squeezing through the claustrophobic passageways of South Africa's Rising Star Cave, site of a massive cache of bones belonging to hominid, Homo naledi. MARK from Evolution Soup dives deep with Keneiloe, in a fully-illustrated interview exploring the twists and turns of the Rising Star Cave, the bones that were found there, and the tantalizing theories as to why these mysterious hominids deposited their dead there... Original July 2021 YouTube Interview: https://bit.ly/3LaQXd8 LINKS FOR KENEILOE MOLOPYANE: TWITTER: @Keneiloe https://twitter.com/Keneiloe INSTAGRAM: @Keneiloe https://www.instagram.com/keneiloe YouTube: YouTube: https://bit.ly/3wQwTne WITS UNIVERSITY: MAIN SITE: https://www.wits.ac.za/ Keneiloe's  Page: https://www.is.gd/OKNHSp Center for the Exploration of the Human Journey: @PerotMuseumCEHJ LEE BERGER: TWITTER: @LeeRberger https://twitter.com/LeeRberger NATGEO: SITE: https://ww Support the show

What ignited the famed Cambrian Explosion? The majority of today's animal phyla got their start in this strange yet exciting period of time over five hundred million years ago. What triggered this radiation of life, some with shells, others with skeletons? What were the first predators? And what came before this period? DR SHUHAI XIAO is a paleobiologist and geobiologist who studies the interactions between the biosphere and its environments at critical transitions in Earth history, particularly during the Ediacaran-Cambrian transition. MARK from Evolution Soup chats with Shuhai about the Cambrian, why it may have produced so many new animal types, and the even more mysterious period of time before the Cambrian, the period known as the Ediacaran. Original YouTube interview: https://youtu.be/7hzXhfajN_4 LINKS FOR SHUHAI XIAO: SITE: https://sites.google.com/vt.edu/geobiology TWITTER: @XiaoShuhai https://twitter.com/xiaoshuhai LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shuhai-xiao-3439b915/ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/shuhai.xiao LAB: https://www.researchgate.net/lab/Shuhai-Xiao-Lab EVOLUTION SOUP: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/evolutionsoup/shop Support the show

What caused the ancestors of human beings start walking upright? The seven-million-year-long-journey started in the trees of Africa and culminates in Homo sapiens dominance of the globe. But the answers to 'why' and 'when' are still elusive. JEREMY DESILVA is an anthropologist at Dartmouth College. Jeremy ('Jerry') specializes in the locomotion of the first apes and early human ancestors.  His most recent work focuses on the origins and evolution of upright walking in the human lineage. In this Evolution Soup Special, host MARK talks with Jerry about the various theories relating to bipedality and specifically about recent hominid discoveries Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi. ORIGINAL VIDEO https://bit.ly/3YKu6d9 LINKS FOR JEREMY DESILVA: SITE: https://anthropology.dartmouth.edu/people/jeremy-desilva TWITTER: @desilva_jerry BOOK: First Steps: How Walking Upright Made Us Human: https://amzn.to/3i6xZX6 SEE ALSO: Dartmouth College: https://home.dartmouth.edu/ Dartmouth College flyover footage by Danny Katz  Lee Berger's Fossil Vault YouTube: https://bit.ly/3zGJ4V8 Boston Science Museum: https://www.mos.org/ EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show

The Meg! Did it really exist? (Spoiler alert: it did). This giant of the Miocene seas has been of keen interest to paleontologists for decades. It's true dimensions have never been known until recently. JACK COOPER is a PhD student working on the functional diversity of sharks through time. His current work focuses on the size, dimensions and reconstruction of the Megalodon shark. MARK from Evolution Soup talks to Jack about the history of its discovery, what it ate, where it swam, and the new research that he and mentor Catalina Pimiento have recently published, revealing this beast's true, awesome size. #shark #megalodon #sharkweek LINKS FOR JACK COOPER: TWITTER: @CooperPalaeo https://twitter.com/CooperPalaeo https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jack-Cooper-18 Body dimensions of the extinct giant shark Otodus megalodon: a 2D reconstruction: https://go.nature.com/3ge98hB Jack guesting on 'Let's Jaws For A Minute' (Podcast): https://apple.co/3hVIDzS German documentary featuring Jack: https://is.gd/BmGfzp Let's Jaws TWITTER: https://twitter.com/jawsforaminute Pimiento Research Group: https://www.catalinapimiento.com/ @pimientoc @PimientoGroup https://twitter.com/PimientoGroup Interviews powered by https://streamyard.com/ #evolutionsoup #evolution #paleo #paleontology #paleoartist #Homosapiens #hominid #artwork #Darwin #cave #bone #fossils #Neanderthal #australopithecus #hominin #extinct #animals #science #anthropology #paleoanthropology #genus #species #africa #skull #skulls #naturalselection #lucy #paleontology #megalodon #shark  #sharks #sharkteeth #sharktooth #megalodontooth #fossilhunting #ocean #paleontology  #greatwhiteshark #SharkWeek EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: @evolution_soup RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show

Evolution is a marvel, but - bad backs? Crooked teeth? Allergies? What gives? ALEX BEZZERIDES is a professor of biology at Lewis-Clark State College in Idaho, where he teaches a wide range of biology classes, from human anatomy and physiology to entomology. He has a bachelor’s degree in biology and a PhD in neurobiology and behavior. MARK from Evolution Soup discusses Alex's new book 'Evolution Gone Wrong: The Curious Reasons Why Our Bodies Work (Or Don't)', delving into why the evolutionary process rewarded us with successes as well as lumping us with some pretty annoying failures! (Apologies for variable signal quality during a few  portions of this interview) #evolution #science #anatomy LINKS FOR ALEX BEZZERIDES: TWITTER: @alexbezzerides https://twitter.com/alexbezzerides BOOK: Publisher: https://www.harpercollins.com/blogs/authors/alex-bezzerides Amazon: https://amzn.to/3oNp2U0 SEE ALSO: Lewis-Clark State College: https://www.lcsc.edu First Steps: How Walking Upright Made Us Human by Jeremy DeSilva: https://amzn.to/3i6xZX6 Interviews powered by https://streamyard.com/ #evolutionsoup #evolution #paleo #paleontology #paleoartist #Homosapiens #hominid #artwork #Darwin #cave #bone #fossils #Neanderthal #australopithecus #hominin #extinct #animals #science #anthropology #paleoanthropology #genus #species #africa #skull #skulls #naturalselection #lucy #paleontology --------------- EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show

DR MOHAMED NOOR is a Professor of Biology at Duke University involved in evolutionary genetics research , looking into how genetic changes contribute to the formation of new species. A keen Star Trek aficionado, he is the author of the book Live Long and Evolve and serves as a Science Advisor on the Paramount Plus series, Star Trek: Discovery. MARK from Evolution Soup opens hailing frequencies with Dr Noor to discuss how the Star Trek franchise utilizes science and especially the science of biological evolution. Did the writers get it right? Could there be humanoids all throughout our galaxy? And what about tribbles? #evolution #startrek #science Original YouTube video interview : https://youtu.be/fHyvXGjqq50 LINKS FOR DR MOHAMED NOOR: BOOK: Live Long and Evolve: https://amzn.to/3iiW0s9​ Website: https://scholars.duke.edu/person/noor Noor Lab: https://sites.google.com/view/noor-lab Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/mafnoor​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mafnoor/​ BioTrekkie Explains [YouTube]: https://bit.ly/3w2e92X BioTrekkie Site: https://www.biotrekkie.com SEE ALSO: Science Division collectibles: SITE: https://sciencediv.com/ App Enabled Tribble: https://sciencediv.com/products/star-trek-app-enabled-tribble Jayne Brook: https://twitter.com/thejaynebrook EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show

DR LARISA DESANTIS is a conservation biologist at Vanderbilt University and vertebrate paleontologist in the department of biological sciences. Larisa studies fossil mammals as a way of determining how they responded to ancient climate change. MARK from Evolution Soup talks all things sabertooth cat with Larisa, delving into the various species that boast impressive sabers, how we know what they ate ... and why they went extinct. #sabertooth #bigcats #smilodon Original YouTube Video Interview: https://bit.ly/3qChXri LINKS FOR LARISA DESANTIS: SITE: The DeSantis DREAM Lab - https://www.desantislab.com/ RESEARCHGATE: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Larisa-Desantis-2 TWITTER: DeSantis DREAM Lab https://twitter.com/desantislab (@DeSantisLab) Ted Talk 'Our Ancient Past is the Key to Our Future': https://bit.ly/2RDlvuT SEE ALSO: Bone Clones, Inc. - Osteological Reproductions: https://boneclones.com Vanderbilt University: https://www.vanderbilt.edu/ (Nashville TN) Wild Life podcast: https://www.is.gd/8dDpbX EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: @evolution_soup RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show

They were the most successful hominids of all time, existing on earth for almost two million years and leaving fossil evidence across much of the globe. From Africa to the Caucasus to the Far East, Homo erectus travelled far and left an indelible mark on prehistory. DR KAREN BAAB is a biological anthropologist studying human evolution at Midwestern University in Glendale, Arizona, USA.  Her main areas of research are the evolutionary history of Plio-Pleistocene Homo and what the shape of their skulls can tell us. MARK from Evolution Soup welcomes Dr Baab back to talk all things Homo erectus. Link to original video interview: https://youtu.be/7N7JrQcLJVs #humanevolution #evolution #homoerectus LINKS FOR DR KAREN BAAB: SITE: http://www.karenbaab.com/ RESEARCHGATE: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Karen_Baab Concerning Hobbits (interview with Karen Baab): https://bit.ly/39BXwlV EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show

Were neanderthals just dumb brutes waiting for extinction? The latest research says they were anything but dimwitted. They had culture, forethought, and emotion - just like us. REBECCA WRAGG SYKES is a palaeolithic archaeologist and honorary fellow at the University of Liverpool, specialising in Neanderthals. She is co-founder of the Trowelblazers website, celebrating women archaeologists, palaeontologists and geologists through the ages, and the author of Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death and Art. MARK from Evolution Soup talks to Rebecca about neanderthal history, biology, and technology (stone tools). The amazing DNA work on this hominid is also discussed, as well as the world of the female neanderthal and what the evidence can tell us. Kindred spirits, to be sure. Original interview video:  https://bit.ly/3z6UKRH #neanderthal #evolution #humanevolution LINKS FOR REBECCA WRAGG SYKES: SITE: https://www.rebeccawraggsykes.com BLOG: http://www.therocksremain.org ARTWORKS: https://www.redbubble.com/people/sili... TWITTER: https://twitter.com/LeMoustier https://trowelblazers.com/ #RealFossilHunterLottie 'Sheanderthal' - Rebecca's article on female Neanderthals https://bit.ly/37mJeEV EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www. Support the show

The search for the origin of life is nothing new. Abiogenesis - life from non life - has fascinated and frustrated science for countless years. But what if we've been going about it the wrong way? PROFESSOR LEE CRONIN holds the Regius chair of chemistry at the University of Glasgow. His primary interests are in the creation of artificial lifeforms using inorganic chemistry. MARK from Evolution Soup talks to Lee about his 'Inorganica' experiments, the nature of living things, why inorganic 'dead stuff' matters and - most importantly - why evolution is the engine that powers it all. #evolution #abiogenesis #life LINKS FOR LEE CRONIN: LEE'S TWITTER: https://twitter.com/leecronin LAB SITE: http://www.croninlab.com LAB TWITTER: https://twitter.com/CroninLab University of Glasgow: https://www.gla.ac.uk/ University of Glasgow Drone Footage by ZICODIAN Orginal video interview:  https://bit.ly/3G0vdg3 'INORGANICA' (short film with Lee Cronin by Aeon) https://bit.ly/3b12zxw EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss   Support the show

They lived along our ancestors and were very much like them - but then vanished from history. What is the story of the genus Paranthropus and its three fascinating species? ALEXIS WILLIAMS is a PhD student in the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology at George Washington University and studies the fossil record as a way of understanding the evolutionary history of the African hominin, Paranthropus. MARK from Evolution Soup talks with Alexis about this group of hominids, their amazingly huge teeth, and reasons why they may have gone extinct. LINKS FOR ALEXIS WILLIAMS: Got a question about Paranthropus? Email Alexis at [email protected] Instagram: @awilliams9772 Alexis Williams https://anthropology.columbian.gwu.edu/alexis-williams Meet Your Exotic, Extinct Close Relative BY BERNARD WOOD, ALEXIS WILLIAMS https://www.americanscientist.org/article/meet-your-exotic-extinct-close-relative The Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology https://cashp.columbian.gwu.edu/ Twitter: @gwCASHP George Washington University: https://www.gwu.edu/ Interviews powered by https://streamyard.com/ #evolutionsoup #evolution #paleo #paleontology #paleoartist #Homosapiens #hominid #artwork #Darwin #cave #bone #fossils #Neanderthal #australopithecus #hominin #extinct #animals #science #anthropology #paleoanthropology #genus #species #africa #skull #skulls #naturalselection #lucy #paleontology #paranthropus EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evolution_soup/ RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss http://evolutionsoup.buzzsprout.com --------------- Support the show

In 1983, an exquisitely-preserved fossil of a new species of primate, Darwinius masillae, was unearthed in Germany's Messel Pit. The media hailed the 47-million-year-old specimen as the missing link. Is Darwinius (aka 'Ida') the so-called missing link between primates and humans, the earliest human ancestor ever found? SERGI LÓPEZ-TORRES is a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Anthropology who researches the early stages of primate evolution as well as the paleobiology and functional morphology of other closely related groups to primates. His work on Ida has turned up some unexpected results. MARK from  Evolution Soup discusses all things Darwinius with Sergi, focusing on her most likely placement on the human family tree... Link to original video interview: https://youtu.be/Vu3qouBsCUM #primates #ida #darwinius LINKS FOR SERGI LÓPEZ-TORRES: Researchgate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sergi_Lopez-Torres TWITTER: @S_LopezTorres  Researcher at @IPaleoPAN | Res. Assoc. @AMNH | PhD from @UofT EVOLUTION SOUP YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/evolutionsoup Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/evolutionsoup/ Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/evolutionsoup/ Instagram: @evolution_soup RSS feed: https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/354743.rss Support the show